Acts 16:25, “But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.”

Sometimes the only way out of a situation is praise. As Paul and Barnabas were bound in a prison cell they could have found reason to complain.

“This is what I get for preaching the Gospel.”
“Life was easier before Christ.”

But instead they found reason to Worship. They would rather be in prison with Jesus than living at ease without Him. They also came to understand that prison doors don’t open for complainers. They open for worshippers.

If you need a breakthrough in your life, worship! God comes through when we praise His name.

When we fail to remember and focus on the Cross, our lives will be consumed with the things He saved us from. #1corinthians2:2 #refocusing

If you count all things as loss beforehand, you won’tbe shaken when you lose all things. #hardthingtolive #philippians3:7

What is life all about anyway?
One day it’s here and then it goes away

Am I doing any thing that lasts
Anything that matters, what’s in my past?

As the Great Judge looks at history
Will He see labeled on my life, His Story

For what matters in life is not what I did
As much as what He did through me

It His grace that has been labeled on my heart
That in the end, it is really about me just doing my part

Having my place in the history of man
That it could be said that I did all I can

You see in life it is more than just us alone
It is a partnership with the One on the Throne

He does His part, I do mine
It is about me making the Master shine

To be a vessel meet for the Master’s use
I am here to do what He says to do

So again I ask what is life about any way?
To do it not my way but His way all day every day

Life is living for the One who created me
That in me I will be all that He wants me to be

That in the end everyone will find
That I did His will in life not just mine

-Danny Cheney-

This morning I woke up with a thought rolling over in my mind.  It was probably a carry over of studying yesterday for Sunday’s message.  Our topic for Sunday deals with every believer maturing and becoming servants of Christ and others.

I woke up this morning thinking about the American church including ours. Over the last 15 years we have used different tests to help people discover what they are supposed to do for Christ.

We have the PLACE test to help people find their place in ministry.  We have spiritual gift tests to help people discover their gifts for ministry.  Which one of those did the early church use? Did the Apostle Paul take one to help him discover he was called to be an apostle and called to martyrdom.

The tragedy of the modern church is that it is easier to get people to take a test than it is to get them to pray for direction.   We are so far removed from following the Spirit that we have relied on tests to show us.

I have used these for years but have seen little lasting fruit. The reason? When people are placed by a test that sense of calling is absent.  When they have been shown by a test they don’t always have the passion to go along with it.  I firmly believe in the future at RFA we must rely on God to show us through prayer, through His word and through the burning passion of God in our hearts. 

If you are looking for your place in God’s kingdom, seek Him.  Call upon Him and He will show great and mighty things that you did not know.

As we have concluded our fast, I believe it is important that we continue in prayer.  To make a habit of praying and seeking the Lord.  As we endeavor to be disciplined in our prayer lives we must remember that it doesn’t become just a ritual or a task that we do grudgingly.  We must make sure that we do it from the want to instead of the have to.

As I was contemplating this thought, I came across an article I wrote 4 years ago that I think will help those who have struggled with the mindset of “having” to pray.  Keep your heart for God and prayer and do it out of your love for God.

Devotional Bondage

As I was coming up in ministry, I was taught rather legalistically, that you had to spend at least an hour a day in prayer.  Not 59 minutes, but at least an hour.  To fall short by one minute would mean that you were ineffective and risked the possibility of hell.  I am not making this stuff up, but I was taught that Jesus asked His disciples, “Could you not tarry with me for one hour?”  If Jesus asked that question, then we must tarry at least one hour.

For years I watched the clock to make sure I made it.  When I pastored my first church, I worked a full-time job with alot of overtime, prepared three sermons a week, visited the sick, cleaned the church, mowed the church yard, did the bulletins and anything else that needed to be done.  I often did not meet my target goal of one hour.  I would arise at 5:00 some mornings to “get my hour in” before I went to work.  Because I would stay up to midnight preparing sermons, I would fall asleep in prayer at the altar and then hang my head in shame at how my flesh got the best of me.  This went on for years.

After I went full-time in ministry, I still had the bondage of this one hour a day rule.  I felt like a failure, ashamed that I could not pray long enough.  It didn’t matter if you prayed throughout the day.  You at least had to pray for one hour at one time.  I lived with guilt and shame, as most do, when they are bound by legalism.  It wasn’t until several years ago that I finally got set free of this addictive garbage.  I realized that God enjoys time with us, whether it be 5 minutes or 5 hours.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe the more prayer the better, but if we are praying out of legalism, there is a skewed relationship with God.  We treat God as an abusive Father who demands perfection in our prayer life.  We then pray out of fear of failure, rather than praying out of our desire for Him.  We fall into the trapping of trying to please God rather than communing with God.  God is a loving Father who desires to know us and lavish us with His love and we must seek Him out of a desire to know Him more.  God is a God who is a gracious Father not a God who cannot be pleased.

Our prayer lives should be growing and ongoing, but not bound to a time or ritual.  I no longer watch the clock.  I no longer fear falling short.  I pray in the mornings as long as I can or feel led.  I pray during the day, when I am in my car, or while I’m working.  I now have more freedom in prayer and my relationship with God is relishing His love and grace.

The tooth fairy will be busy tonight. I did tell Hannah that the tooth fairy had no more money for kids because Mr. Obama took it all in taxes. But Hannah assured me that he left her a little bit. Sorry if that was a political statement. I didn’t mean to let it slip. We do pray for our President and country’s leaders frequently.

The only way 2 attain anything is 2 pursue it. Goals r only reached when pursued. Change only takes place when we pursue change #pursue2013